Wednesday

Dec 5, 2018 at 4:55 PM

The latest updates from the bar and restaurant scenes

Legacy Smokehouse will hold the grand opening of its Old Hilliard location on Saturday, Dec. 15. The Texas barbecue restaurant is housed in a former antique bookstoreat 3987 Main St. Founded by three friends from Grove City in 2017, Legacy launched with a food trailer in Merion Village before opening its first permanent location at 340 Greenlawn Ave., across from Berliner Sports Park. Legacy's hours in Hilliard will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

Ruth's Chris Steak House will open next year across from the Greater Columbus Convention Centerat 511 N. High St., a space that has been vacant since DeepWood Restaurant closed on the last day of 2014. This is a return to Central Ohio for the American steakhouse chain, which closed its location at Crosswoods almost three years ago.

There's cookie drama in Central Ohio. The Westerville-based cookie company Cheryl and Co. filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against its founder and former owner, Cheryl Krueger, who recently launched a new cookie company named C. Krueger's. Her new shop, C.Krueger's Finest Baked Goods, opened this fall in the Short North. In the lawsuit, Cheryl and Co. accuses Krueger of using similar recipes and trademarks, as well as poaching Cheryl and Co. employees. C.Krueger's denies any wrongdoing.

The Short North Trolley Co. is holding a series of BYOB Ugly Sweater Holiday Trolley Crawls on Saturday, Dec. 8. The pub crawl kicks off at North High Brewing, where patrons board a vintage trolleyand make stops at bars in the Short North and Downtown. Tickets are $45, and you can purchase them at shortnorthtrolley.com.

Family-owned Johnson's Real Ice Cream, which hasthree locations in Central Ohio, announced this week that it will acquire Chicago-based Bobtail Ice Cream Co. in the new year. Bobtail's shop has become a Chicago institution since its 2004 founding by University of Chicago graduates Jeff Wilcoxon, Chris Hill and John Rutledge. Although this marks Johnson's first retail venture outside of the Columbus market, Bobtail and Johnson's have shared Bexley roots. Bobtail co-founder Jeff Wilcoxon is the brother of Johnson's CEO Matt Wilcoxon. He started Bobtail with Johnson family ice cream recipes and inspiration from the brothers' grandfather, who sold ice cream to his Bexley neighbors starting in 1950.

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